Blacks Want Improved Mental-Health Services

BET's Cord Jefferson writes that a report indicating that California's black community finds its mental-health services inadequate and unhelpful shows that at least some African Americans are taking the issue seriously.

BET's Cord Jefferson writes that a report indicating that California's black community finds its mental-health services inadequate and unhelpful shows that at least some African Americans are taking the issue seriously.

Mental-health woes in the African-American community are a tricky thing. On the one hand, besides the general mental problems people of all races suffer, studies show that some Blacks end up afflicted with emotional stresses from perceived racism, thus adding to their issues. On the other, mental health is a taboo subject in many pockets of the Black community, forcing many African-Americans to struggle silently with very serious bouts of depression, rage and even suicidal thoughts. Thankfully, a new study in California suggests that at least some Black Americans are starting to take their mental health seriously.

According to a state-commissioned report on mental and emotional health within California's Black community, a significant number of African-Americans believe that their mental health services are inadequate and unhelpful.

"People felt like they did not have a good assessment to understand what their particular issues are," V. Diane Woods, president of the African American Health Institute of San Bernardino County, told Bernice Yeung at the Huffington Post ...

Anyone with the guts to stand up and say they need help with their mental health should be commended, but especially those people who fight against taboos in the Black community. Now let's hope California and society at large can find a way to answer their pleas before it's too late for some of them.

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